Inside the Braves with MLB.com's Mark Bowman

Still no Griffey update

When I arrived at the stadium at 7:15 a.m. my intentions were to find something more interesting than the fact that Kelly Johnson avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a one -year, $2.85 million contract.

But there were no signs of Ken Griffey Jr. in the clubhouse on Wednesday morning and I’m no longer convinced we’re going to see him on the Disney property later today.

From what I can gather, Griffey still hasn’t told the Braves that he’s firmly decided whether he’ll be playing in Seattle or Atlanta this year. This certainly wasn’t what I was expecting to gather when I woke up at the crack of dawn.

My expectation was that The Kid would be participating with the Braves during their first full-squad workout this morning. But for now the waiting game continues and based on everything that has happened this offseason, I think I’m done making any assumptions.

While remaining optimistic that Griffey will choose Atlanta over Seattle, Chipper Jones has said that he won’t actually believe it to be true until he sees him in the Braves clubhouse. I’ve now officially adopted that same mindset.

- Mark Bowman

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26 Comments

I truly hope Junior signs with Atlanta. He would be a tremendous asset, could contribute immediately, and would be a huge fan favorite. I’m pulling for the Braves to bring in one of the great good guys in baseball.

I’m guessing that Griffey will be looking for a Non AJC source to give the official word. TMoore will then spend 6 weeks trying to “educate” Junior on “how it works” here in Atlanta. What a piece of work that guy is.

News flash and a congrats: Just ran #s for the last 7 days and, other than Hot Stove Report, which is being gradually atticked, No. 1 overall in the MLBlogs Network for page views is Bowman’s Blog. In that time, you are No. 1, having just passed Bombers Beat (NYY). Incredibly strong debut for this blog, and congrats to your readers for making it so. Will have the more formal Latest Leaders on the community blog sometime in the next week but thought you’d appreciate the update! Great start, Mark!

After talking to both parties, I can’t figure out why this Glavine deal isn’t done yet. Guess this means I just have to do some more reporting. I’ll let you what I find out in the coming hours. Also I can’t add much more about Griffey. It’s obvious that he wasn’t happy with the AJC’s early report yesterday. The Braves are hoping to get an update from Jr. later today.

Mark, who do you think is the “closer” when deals are close like this? Frank, Mr. Schuerholz, or maybe someone else? It’ s not like the Braves leaked it to the AJC, they just talk amongst themselves and guess. Junior will figure that out quickly with that bunch of yahoos. DOB not withstanding of course.

Rother, you make an excellent point about something that Jr. might not completely understand. The Braves didn’t leak information to the AJC. I’m confident they got information from a reliable source (before you ask, I don’t know who it was). But if Jr. still is skeptical about the possibility that this was a Braves leak, then this might explain why we’re in this extended rain delay.

I can assure you that this delay isn’t a product of the club’s desire to simultaneously announce Glavine and Griffey. Earlier this week, they might have thought there was a chance they’d do this. But right now, I think they’d just be happy to get these deals done and officially put an end to this roster reconstruction process.

1:17pm: Larry Stone of the Seattle Times says Braves GM Frank Wren expects Griffey’s decision “pretty shortly.” Bobby Cox said it could be today or tomorrow. Griffey’s apparently already passed a physical for both the Braves and Mariners.

My thoughts as well. He strikes me as a man of integrity and of his word. Quite likely the Scooper put him in a bad position with people he respects. Let’s just hope he doesn’t take the wrong high road and sign with Seattle because of it. The press has as many maggots in it as any full trash can. It has to make it hard for you to build up enough trust to have a real conversation with the guys. There are national press guys that I have met that I wouldn’t give a weather report to.

Jane, I think most of us figured that Griffey would have been signed, sealed and delivered at some point today. With that being said, today isn’t complete. But right now, I’m thinking there’s a better chance that Glavine is actually the one who is signed, sealed and delivered before we go to sleep tonight. These delays don’t have anything to do with roster moves. I still think Stockman and Lerew will be the guys removed from the 40-man roster.

Mark, do you still have the belief that Griffey will end up with the Braves? Because it would make sense in the hold-up being he doesn’t wanna seem think a (you know what) to Seattle fans…Thanks in advance.

Viva — What is it about (1) the last 15+ years of hall of fame numbers, (2) undying loyalty- sacrifice – devotion to the organization and the city of Atlanta, (3) recent comments and opinion of John Smoltz leaving and wondering how he himself would be treated… would lead you to believe that thanking Chipper for his career with a respectful contract and making sure he RETIRES as an Atlanta Brave would not be the ultimate number 1 priority of this organization?

I just sent my updated story on the Griffey saga. What a day. I’m heading back to my Spring Training residence. As I leave here, I still think there’s a chance Glavine could get done w/in the next 24 hours and for the first time in more than a month, I finally think there’s a chance the Braves might avoid going to arbitration with Francoeur. When I log back on, I’ll see if I can give you updates on either of these fronts.

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